The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image of bright young stars peeking out of the space nursery, a cloud of dust in which stars are born.
This stellar nursery is located in the constellation Gemini, 50 light-years away and is officially designated AFGL 5180. It is one of the many star-forming regions that have the necessary dust and gas density for this material to eventually collapse into stars.
In a new image released by NASA, a massive star is forming in the center, and beams of light illuminate cavities in the dusty clouds.
"The light from this star mostly escapes and reaches us, illuminating these cavities like a beacon breaking through thunderclouds," NASA said in a statement.
The Hubble Wide Angle Camera WFC3 has been specially designed for capturing such images as it can detect both visible and infrared light. Thanks to the telescope, astronomers can now see young stars more clearly. Scientists hope that understanding star formation will help us learn more about our own solar system.
Check out other examples of space beauty from Hubble: